Buddhism and Medicine

From its earliest days, Buddhism has been closely intertwined with medicine. Buddhism and Medicine is a singular collection showcasing the generative relationship and mutual influence between these fields across premodern Asia. The anthology combines dozens of English-language translations of premodern Buddhist texts with contextualizing introductions by leading international scholars in Buddhist studies, the history of medicine, and a range of other fields.

These sources explore in detail medical topics ranging from the development of fetal anatomy in the womb to nursing, hospice, dietary regimen, magical powers, visualization, and other healing knowledge. Works translated here include meditation guides, popular narratives, ritual manuals, spells texts, monastic disciplinary codes, recipe inscriptions, philosophical treatises, poetry, works by physicians, and other genres. All together, these selections and their introductions provide a comprehensive overview of Buddhist healing throughout Asia. They also demonstrate the central place of healing in Buddhist practice and in the daily life of the premodern world.

C. Pierce Salguero’s Buddhism and Medicine is an amazingly rich and comprehensive collection of studies of texts and observed practices from all over the Asian lands where Buddhism’s manifestations made extensive contributions to the cultures. This book is a remarkable labor of scholarship and dedication—I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone interested in Buddhism, the history of medicine, and the mutually fruitful interaction of the Asian medicine traditions and Western biomedical tradition that is happening all around us today. Robert Thurman, Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, Columbia University

This is a most unusual project. It will be a unique and valuable resource, both for students of Buddhism and for students of the history of medicine. There has never been anything like it in any language. Victor Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania

A welcome addition to studies involving the healing traditions connected with Buddhism in South, Southeast, and East Asia. It will appeal to students of Buddhism, Asian medicine, and, importantly, the history of medicine. Kenneth Zysk, University of Copenhagen

Table of Contents AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroductionDoctrinal Considerations1. Illness, Cure, and Care: Selections from the Pāli Canon, by Dhivan Thomas Jones2. The Healing Potential of the Awakening Factors in Early Buddhist Discourse, by Anālayo 3. Curing/Curating Illness: Selections from the Chapter on the “Sufferings of Illness” from A Grove of Pearls from the Garden of Dharma, by Alexander O. Hsu4. Understanding the Dosa: A Summary of the Art of Medicine from the Sūtra of Golden Light, by C. Pierce Salguero5. Fetal Suffering in the Descent Into the Womb Sūtra, by Amy Paris Langenberg6. Health and Sickness of Body and Mind: Selections from the Yogācāra-bhūmi, by Dan Lusthaus7. Overcoming Illness with Insight: Kokan Shiren’s Treatise on the Nature of Illness and Its Manifestations, by Edward Drott8. Karma in the Bathhouse: The Sūtra on Bathing the Sangha in the Bathhouse, by C. Pierce Salguero9. Liberating the Whole World: Sudhana’s Meeting with Samantanetra from the Sūtra of the Entry Into the Realm of Reality, by William J. GiddingsHealing and Monastic Discipline10. Medical Practice as Wrong Livelihood: Selections from the Pāli Discourses, Vinaya, and Commentaries, by David Fiordalis11. Nuns, Laywomen, and Healing: Three Rules from a Sanskrit Nuns Disciplinary Code, by Amy Paris Langenberg12. Stories of Healing from the Section on Medicines in the Pāli Vinaya, by David Fiordalis13. Rules on Medicines from the Five-Part Vinaya of the Mahīśāsaka School, by C. Pierce Salguero14. Food and Medicine in the Chinese Vinayas: Daoxuan’s Emended Commentary on Monastic Practices from the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, by J. E. E. Pettit15. Toilet Care in Buddhist Monasteries: Health, Decency, and Ritual, by Ann Heirman and Mathieu Torck16. Health Care in Indian Monasteries: Selections from Yijing's Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the Southern Seas, by Christoph KleineBuddhist Healers17. Two Sūtras on Healing and Healers from the Chinese Canon, by Marcus Bingenheimer18. The Buddha Heals: Past and Present Lives, by Phyllis Granoff19. The Buddha's Past Life as a Snakebite Doctor: The Visa-vanta Jātaka, by Michael Slouber20. The Training and Treatments of an Indian Doctor in a Buddhist Text: A Sanskrit Biography of Jīvaka, by Gregory Schopen21. A Selection of Buddhist Healing Narratives from East Asia, by C. Pierce Salguero22. The Buddha and the Bath Water: How the Bodhisattva Gyōki Founded Koya Temple, by D. Max Moerman23. Esoteric Ritual Remedies: Kūkai’s Cures for Emperor Kōnin, by Pamela Winfield24. “The Grief of Kings Is the Suffering of Their Subjects”: A Cambodian King's Twelfth-Century Network of Hospitals, by Peter D. Sharrock and Claude JacquesHealing Rites25. Help for the Sick, Dying and Misbegotten: A Sanskrit Version of the Sūtra of Bhaisajyaguru, by Gregory Schopen26. The Sūtra on the Dhāranī of the Vast, Complete, and Unobstructed Great Compassion of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara with a Thousand Hands and Thousand Eyes, by William J. Giddings27. Tantric Medicine in a Buddhist Proto-Tantra, by Michael Slouber28. Healing Dhāranīs: A Collection of Medieval Spells from the Taishō Tripitaka, by C. Pierce Salguero29. Seals of the Bodhisattva: A Buddhist Talismanic Seal Manual from Dunhuang, by Paul Copp30. “The Ritual Altar of Kundalī Vajra for Treating Illnesses” from the Collected Dhāranī Sūtras, by Josh Capitanio31. Curing with Karma and Confession: Two Short Liturgies from Dunhuang, by Stephen F. Teiser32. Childbirth in Early Medieval Japan: Ritual Economies and Medical Emergencies in Procedures During the Day of the Royal Consort’s Labor, by Anna Andreeva33. The Ox-Bezoar Empowerment for Fertility and Safe Childbirth: Selected Readings from the Shingon Ritual Collections, by Benedetta Lomi34. The Verses on the Victor’s Armor: A Pāli Text Used for Protection and Healing in Thailand, by Justin Thomas McDaniel35. Selections from a Mongolian Manual of Buddhist Medicine, by Vesna A. WallaceMeditation as Cure and Illness36. Healing Sicknesses Caused by Meditation: “The Enveloping Butter Contemplation” from the Secret Essential Methods for Curing Meditation Sickness, by Eric Greene37. Healing with Meditation: “Treating Illness” from Zhiyi’s Shorter Treatise on Śamatha and Vipaśyanā, by C. Pierce Salguero38. Getting Sick Over Nothing: Hyesim and Hakuin on the Maladies of Meditation, by Juhn Ahn39. Buddhist Method as Medicine: The Chan Materia Medica and its Ming Dynasty Elaboration, by Robban Toleno40. Tantric Meditations to Increase the Forces of Life: Making Manifest the Three Deities of Longevity, by Matthew T. Kapstein41. Rangjung Dorjé’s Key to the Essential Points of Wind and Mind, by Douglas Duckworth42. Treating Disorders of the Subtle Winds in Tibetan Buddhism, by Todd P. Marek and Charles Jamyang Oliphant of Rossie43. How to Deal with Wind Illnesses: Two Short Meditation Texts from Buddhist Southeast Asia, by Andrew Skilton and Phibul ChoompolpaisalHybridity in Buddhist Healing44. Correlative Cosmology, Moral Rectitude, and Buddhist Notions of Health: Selections from the Sūtra of Trapusa and Bhallika, by Ori Tavor45. Apotropaic Substances as Medicine in Buddhist Healing Methods: Nāgārjuna’s Treatise on the Five Sciences, by Dominic Steavu46. Dung, Hair, and Mungbeans: Household Remedies in the Longmen Recipes, by Michael Stanley-Baker and Dolly Yang47. “The Mysterious Names on the Hands and Fingers”: Healing Hand Mnemonics in Medieval Chinese Buddhism, by Marta Hanson48. Selections on Illness Divination from Bodhidharma’s Treasure of the Palm, by Stephanie Homola49. Buddhist Health, Diet, and Sex Advice in Ancient Korea, by Don Baker and Hyunsook Lee50. Vessel Examination in the Medicine of the Moon King, by William A. McGrath51. Moxibustion for Demons: Oral Transmission on Corpse-Vector Disease, by Andrew MacomberBuddhism in the Medical Traditions52. “Indian Massage” from Sun Simiao’s Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold, by Michael Stanley-Baker53. Sun Simiao on Medical Ethics: “The Perfect Integrity of the Great Physician” from Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold, by Nathan Sivin54. Using the Golden Needle: Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva’s Ophthalmological Treatise and Other Sources in the Essentials of Medical Treatment, by Katja Triplett55. Buddhism in Chosōn Dynasty Medical Compilations, by Kang Yeonseok and Taehyung Lee56. Determining Karmic Illness: Kajiwara Shōzen’s Treatment of Rai/Leprosy in His Book of the Simple Physician, by Andrew Goble57. Selections from Miraculous Drugs of the South, by the Vietnamese Buddhist Monk-Physician Tue Tinh, by C. Michele Thompson58. The Dong Nhân Pagoda and the Publication of Mister Lazy’s Medical Encyclopedia, by Leslie E. de Vries59. An Abhidhamma Perspective: Causes of Illness in a Burmese Buddhist Medical System, by Pyi Phyo Kyaw60. Jewels in Medicines: On the Processing and Efficacy of Precious Pills According to the Four Treatises, by Barbara Gerke and Florian Ploberger61. The Final Doubt and the Entrustment of Tibetan Medical Knowledge, by Barbara Gerke and Florian Ploberger62. Did the Buddha Really Author the Classic Tibetan Medical Text? A Critical Examination from The Lamp to Dispel Darkness, by Janet GyatsoAppendix: Geographical Table of ContentsGlossaryReferencesList of ContributorsIndex

About the Author

C. Pierce Salguero is associate professor of Asian history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University’s Abington College. He is the author of Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China (2014), Traditional Thai Medicine (2016), and numerous scholarly articles and popular works on Buddhism and traditional medicine in Asia.